Mumbai: Taxi and auto strike on Monday, Wednesday

Mumbai: Mumbaikars will be greatly inconvenienced when a section of taxi drivers under a union will begin an indefinite strike on August 29 and autorickshaws, too, will keep off roads on August 31.

Taxi drivers under the recently-formed union, Jai Bhagwan Taxi Rickshaw Sanghatana, would go on a strike in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai to demand that the Maharashtra government regulates the operation of cab aggregators like Uber and Ola.

According to the union’s president, Bala Sanap, the state government has failed to heed to their demands and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has “not fulfilled his promise to come up with rules or an Act to regulate the app-based aggregators, who are depriving us of our earnings and passengers.”

Sanap, who claims that 95 per cent of taxi and autorickshaw drivers are under the union, said that among their demands was to put the operations of app-based cab aggregators on hold till the government formulates some regulations and bring them under the ambit of the Regional Transport Office (RTO).

The Mumbai Autorickshaw Union will also be supporting the strike but begin its own agitation on the night of August 30 when they will go off roads. A union member said, “These app-based cabs are a problem for us also since they take away our business. Their operations should be stopped completely.”

There are around 120,000 autorickshaws operating in Mumbai and even this number is not enough, he said, since the biggest sufferers are the commuters at railway stations who find it difficult to get an auto during peak hours. “Therefore, among our other demands, we want permits to be given to all pending applicants as well permits to 100,000 more autorickshaws since the need from the public is so high.”

Moreover, taxis and autos across the city fiercely oppose the surge-pricing policy practised by Uber and Ola who charge according to demand during low and peak hours.

“Surge pricing should be stopped and their fares must be regularised,” said A.C. Quadros, head of the decades-old Taxi Men’s Union in the city. His union has around 23,000 members out of 40,000 black and yellow taxis that ply in the city, he claims.

“But we will not be taking part in the strike since our writ petition to regularise the fares of these cab aggregators is coming up in the Bombay High Court on September,” he says. Ola and Uber cabs are actually tourist taxis, he points out, claiming they should not be taking regular passengers, that affects the rest of the taxis and autos. “They are actually violating the Motor Vehicles Act.”

Meanwhile, a few days back, the Bombay High Court heard a public interest litigation filed by an advocate complaining about the inaction on the part of the state authorities in the face of the strike which would throw normal life out of gear.

The court directed the state government to make arrangements so that people are not inconvenienced badly.

Meanwhile, the High Court hearing a petition filed by the Association of Radio Taxis asked the state to explain whether surge pricing by Ola and Uber was correct and asked how Uber and Ola cabs were allowed to ply with tourist permits.